Word.ws English Dictionary

drill

/dɹɪl/

drill verb: to create (a hole) by removing material with a drill (tool).

drill: to create (a hole) by removing material with a drill (tool)
Image: U.S. Navy photo by Photographers' Mate Airman Sara Bohannan, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Verb (1)

drill (third-person singular simple present drills, present participle drilling, simple past and past participle drilled)

  1. (transitive) To create (a hole) by removing material with a drill (tool).
    • Drill a small hole to start the screw in the right direction.
    Synonyms:
    excavate, bore, gouge
  2. (intransitive) To practice, especially in (or as in) a military context.
    • They drilled daily to learn the routine exactly.
    • On his return the team that faced Hull City had been reconfigured. Moses wasn’t overly drilled, just told he would be playing right wing-back, that Conte had seen enough to know.2017 May 13, Barney Ronay, “Antonio Conte’s brilliance has turned Chelsea’s pop-up team into champions”, in the Guardian
  3. (ergative) To cause to drill (practice); to train, especially in military arts.
    • The sergeant was up by 6:00 every morning, drilling his troops.
    • He [Frederic the Great] drilled his people, as he drilled his grenadiers.1859, Thomas Macaulay, Life of Frederick the Great
  4. (transitive) To repeat an idea frequently in order to encourage someone to remember it.
    • The instructor drilled into us the importance of reading the instructions.
  5. (figuratively, intransitive) To investigate or examine something in more detail or at a different level
    • Drill deeper and you may find the underlying assumptions faulty.
  6. (transitive) To throw, run, hit or kick with a lot of power.
    • He drilled down the court and made a three-pointer.
    • He drilled the ball to his teammate.
  7. To hit someone with a pitch, especially in an intentional context.
  8. (slang, vulgar) To have sexual intercourse with; to penetrate.
    • Everytime^([sic]) when I rape your daughter. Your beautiful faces expressing how it hurts. Always while I drill her c*nt. I want to see you dead.2010, MasseMord, “Masshealing Masskilling”
    • Guess I'll be drilling her butt2012, SwizZz, “Flu Shot”
    Synonyms:
    plow, poke, root, shaft, Formal terms, bed, coit, coitize, dight, enjoy
  9. (slang) To shoot; to kill by shooting.
    • ‘Matthew Garth woulda let Tom Dunstan drill him insteada drawin’ against him.’1982, Paul Radley, My Blue-Checker Corker and Me, Sydney: Fontana/Collins, page 16
    Synonyms:
    drill up

Noun (1)

drill (plural drills)

  1. A tool or machine used to remove material so as to create a hole, typically by plunging a rotating cutting bit into a stationary workpiece.
    • Wear safety glasses when operating an electric drill.
  2. The portion of a drilling tool that drives the bit.
    • Use a drill with a wire brush to remove any rust or buildup.
  3. An activity done as an exercise or practice (especially a military exercise), particularly in preparation for some possible future event or occurrence.
    • fire drill
    • disaster drill
  4. A short and highly repeatable sports training exercise designed to hone a particular skill that may be useful in competition.
    • At today's practice, the football team performed a variety of goalkeeping drills.
  5. Any of several molluscs, of the genus Urosalpinx and others, especially the oyster drill (Urosalpinx cinerea), that make holes in the shells of their prey.
  6. (uncountable) A style of trap music with gritty, violent lyrics, originating on the South Side of Chicago.
    • Though the young women of Chicago’s drill scene can be as rowdy as their male counterparts, they’re also more diverse in subject matter and point to a possible way forward.2012 October 4, Jon Caramanica, “Chicago Hip-Hop’s Raw Burst of Change”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
    • New York City mayor Eric Adams held a summit with a group of drill rappers on Tuesday night and clarified he doesn’t actually want to ban their music, days after he appeared to blame the music scene for the recent shooting deaths of two young New York rappers and suggested drill videos be pulled...2022 February 18, Wilfred Chan, “Eric Adams meets with the drill rappers whose music he said he wanted to ban”, in The Guardian
  7. (countable) A single performance of drill music.
    • These bells are alarmin’
      Point blank and you missed your target
      They go shooting range and their drills are garbage2020 November 19, (67) PR SAD, “One Wish” (0:55 from the start)

Noun (2)

drill (plural drills)

  1. An agricultural implement for making holes for sowing seed, and sometimes so formed as to contain seeds and drop them into the hole made.
    • I found down at the side of the house the remains of what must have once been a kitchen garden. Everything was choked with weeds and scutch grass, but the outlines of bed and drill were still there.1993, John Banville, Ghosts
  2. A light furrow or channel made to put seed into, when sowing.
  3. A row of seed sown in a furrow.

Verb (2)

drill (third-person singular simple present drills, present participle drilling, simple past and past participle drilled)

  1. (transitive) To sow (seeds) by dribbling them along a furrow or in a row.

Noun (3)

drill (plural drills)

  1. (obsolete) A small trickling stream; a rill.
    • Springs through the pleasant meadows pour their drills.c. 1635, George Sandys

Verb (3)

drill (third-person singular simple present drills, present participle drilling, simple past and past participle drilled)

  1. (transitive) To cause to flow in drills or rills or by trickling; to drain by trickling.
    • waters drilled through a sandy stratum
    • Now it is a great square profunditie ; greene , and uneven at the bottome : into which a barren spring doch drill from betweene the stones of the North - ward wall1615, George Sandys, “(please specify the page)”, in The Relation of a Iourney Begun An: Dom: 1610. […], London: […] [Richard Field] for W. Barrett, →OCLC

Verb (4)

drill (third-person singular simple present drills, present participle drilling, simple past and past participle drilled)

  1. (dialectal, obsolete, transitive) To protract, lengthen out; fritter away, spend (time) aimlessly.
    • Quit purposely drilling out the time hoping that someone else will do your chores.
  2. (dialectal, obsolete, transitive) To entice or allure; to decoy; with on.
    • He tells me with great passion that she has bubbled him out of his youth; that she drilled him on to five and fifty [years old], and that he verily believes she will drop him in his old age, if she can find her account in another.1711 June 12, Joseph Addison, The Spectator, number 89; republished in The Works of Joseph Addison, volume 1, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1842, page 142
    Synonyms:
    entice, lead on, lure
  3. (dialectal, obsolete, transitive) To cause to slip or waste away by degrees.
    • August 28, 1731, letter by Jonathan Swift to John Gay and Catherine Douglas, Duchess of Queensberry
      This cursed accident hath drilled away the whole summer.

Noun (4)

drill (plural drills)

  1. An Old World monkey of West Africa, Mandrillus leucophaeus, similar in appearance to the mandrill, but lacking the colorful face.

Noun (5)

drill (countable and uncountable, plural drills)

  1. A strong, durable cotton fabric with a strong bias (diagonal) in the weave.
    Synonyms:
    chino

drill meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

drill in Hindi

tool
ड्रिल ḍril, बरमा barmā

drill in Tamil

உடற்பயிற்சி, கவாத்து, துரப்பணம், துளை, துளைகருவி, துளையிடு

drill in Marathi

drill
कवाईत kavāīt

drill in Urdu

tool
ڈرل ḍril
More languagesFewer languages
drill in Bengali
তুরপুন turopun
drill in Telugu
కవాతు kavātu
drill in Malayalam
തുരക്കുക turakkuka
drill in Kannada
ಕವಾಯತು kavāyatu
drill in Punjabi
ਕਵਾਇਦ kavāida
drill in Gujarati
ડ્રિલ કરવા માટે
drill in Odia
ଡ୍ରିଲ୍ କରିବାକୁ, ଡ୍ରିଲ୍ କରିବା
drill in Nepali
ड्रिल गर्न, ड्रिल गर्नाका लागि, ड्रिल गर्ने
drill in Tagalog
barena
drill in Arabic
ثَقَبَ ṯaqaba, نَقَبَ naqaba, لقمة ثقب luqmat thuqb, مِثْقَاب miṯqāb
drill in Malay
gerudi, latihan, latih tubi
drill in Indonesian
mengebor, berlatih, melatih, mata bor
drill in Persian
درل drel, دریل dereyl, مته matte
drill in Thai
เจาะ jɔ̀, หัด hàt, สว่าน sà-wàan
drill in Vietnamese
khoan, máy khoan, thực hành

Examples of drill in a sentence

  • Regular drills can ensure that everyone knows how to exit safely in an emergency.
  • Now I want you to take Vallett in hand and drill him stiff with everything that has to do with Tilehurst and Tapsfield.1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London:
  • He did get their attention when he drilled the ball dead center into the hole for an opening birdie.2006, Joe Coon, The Perfect Game:
  • Without compromising he drilled the ball home, leaving Dynamos' ill-fated keeper diving for fresh air.2007, Craig Cowell, Muddy Sunday:
  • Bolton were then just inches from taking the lead, but the dangerous-looking Taylor drilled just wide after picking up a loose ball following Jose Bosingwa's poor attempted clearance.2010 December 29, Chris Whyatt, “Chelsea 1 - 0 Bolton”, in BBC:

All 40 example sentences with drill

Synonyms of drill

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of drill

Forms of drill

Verb
third-person singular presentdrills
present participledrilling
past participledrilled
pastdrilled
Noun
pluraldrills

Past tense of drill: drilled

Plural of drill: drills

Origin of drill

From Middle Dutch drillen (“bore, move in a circle”).

Perhaps the same as Etymology 3; compare German Rille which can also mean "small furrow".

Uncertain. Compare the same sense of trill, and German trillen, drillen. Attestation predates Etymology 1.

Words formed from drill

Phrases with drill

47 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with drill

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about drill

What does drill mean?
Drill means to create (a hole) by removing material with a drill (tool).
What is drill in Hindi?
Drill in Hindi is ड्रिल (ḍril), बरमा (barmā). See Drill meaning in Hindi.
How do you use drill in a sentence?
Regular drills can ensure that everyone knows how to exit safely in an emergency.
What part of speech is drill?
Drill can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce drill?
Drill is pronounced /dɹɪl/.
What is the past tense of drill?
The past tense of drill is drilled.

Words near drill in the dictionary

  1. driglam namzha
  2. Drik Drik
  3. Drildool
  4. drilid
  5. drilids
  6. drill
  7. drill 'n' bass
  8. drill and bass
  9. drill and kill
  10. drill and practice
  11. drill bit

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: drill (page history and authors); drill (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); कवाईत (Marathi) (page history and authors); కవాతు (Telugu) (page history and authors); തുരക്കുക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ಕವಾಯತು (Kannada) (page history and authors); ਕਵਾਇਦ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); drill (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); drill (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); drill (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-drill.ogg.

Cite this entry: “drill.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/drill. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.